At first, all Miiyah Paavola could see was a thick wall of smoke.
From her home in Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, northwestern Ontario, the smoke appeared close.
But the remote Indigenous community says that on that Monday, July 13, they were told by the Ministry of Natural Resources there was no immediate danger.
Within hours, they were fleeing for their lives.
“It was all very fast-paced. There was not really much time to think about what was happening,” Paavola told CNN.
She grabbed a wet towel before squeezing aboard a small aluminum boat with five other people, three dogs and a cat. The…